Teenager Testifies About Attacking Latinos for Sport

Nicholas Hausch testified Monday that he and his friends called Marcelo Lucero and his friend “beaner” and “Mexican.”Credit
Michael Nagle for The New York Times

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — It was a Friday night in November 2008, and three Long Island teenagers looking for something to do ended up talking about going “beaner hopping.”

Nicholas Hausch, 18, testifying on Monday in State Supreme Court here, described what that meant. “It’s when you go out and you look for a Hispanic to beat up,” Mr. Hausch told the packed courtroom.

Mr. Hausch said that he and two friends drove to Patchogue that Friday night and used Mr. Hausch’s pistol-style BB gun to shoot at a Hispanic man on his porch. The next night — Saturday, Nov. 8 — Mr. Hausch was again in Patchogue with friends when they spotted a Hispanic man rolling his bicycle.

Mr. Hausch told his friend who was driving to stop the car, and Mr. Hausch eventually got out and started calling the man “beaner” and “Mexican,” Mr. Hausch testified. He and two other friends punched and kicked him, and Mr. Hausch said he took the man’s white baseball cap.

“I took it as a trophy,” Mr. Hausch said.

Later that evening, Mr. Hausch and six other young men saw two Hispanic men walking in a parking lot of the train station in Patchogue. “We were calling them names like ‘beaner,’ ‘Mexican,’ ” Mr. Hausch testified. “They started screaming back.”

One of the Hispanic men took off his jacket and belt after one of the teenagers punched him in the face, and the man started swinging the belt, Mr. Hausch said. “He came after me with the belt, and I walked away,” he said. As Mr. Hausch did so, he testified, one of the seven teenagers, Jeffrey Conroy, walked past him, and told him that they had to leave.

“That’s when he told me that he stabbed him,” Mr. Hausch said referring to Mr. Conroy.

The man who was stabbed, a 37-year-old Ecuadorean immigrant named Marcelo Lucero, would die, and Mr. Conroy would be charged with killing him. Mr. Hausch’s testimony on Monday in Mr. Conroy’s trial was one of the first times that any of the seven young men charged in the attack had spoken publicly at length about the episode.

Mr. Conroy, now 19, is accused of second-degree murder as a hate crime, gang assault and other charges. He could face up to life in prison.

For all of the outrage and controversy the attack caused on Long Island, Mr. Hausch, short and skinny and wearing a dark suit, described the attacks on Hispanics in a matter-of-fact fashion. He was not asked if he had remorse, and he was not asked for, and did not offer, an explanation about why he singled out Hispanics.

Mr. Hausch pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted assault as a hate crime, gang assault and other charges. Four of the teenagers have pleaded guilty and are cooperating with the authorities. Two others who have pleaded not guilty are awaiting trial.

Under questioning by Megan O’Donnell, the Suffolk County assistant district attorney handling the case, Mr. Hausch said that prosecutors had not made him any promises based on his testimony. Mr. Hausch had attended Patchogue-Medford High School with Mr. Conroy, whom he described as a friend, though he said the two were not close.

Mr. Hausch said that Mr. Conroy, moments after the stabbing, had the knife out and that there was blood on it. “We were telling him to throw the knife,” Mr. Hausch testified. He said that Mr. Conroy kept the knife, and told Mr. Hausch that he had washed it in a puddle.

Mr. Hausch said that he did not see Mr. Conroy punch, kick or stab Mr. Lucero. He also said that he did not remember Mr. Conroy yelling any anti-Hispanic slurs as the teens approached Mr. Lucero and his friend, Angel Loja.

Mr. Hausch said that it was another teenager, Kevin Shea, not Mr. Conroy, who told the others to surround Mr. Lucero.

Mr. Hausch said that Mr. Lucero became the aggressor at one point. Under cross-examination, he told Mr. Conroy’s lawyer, William Keahon, that after Mr. Shea punched Mr. Lucero in the face, the group started turning to walk away because Mr. Lucero was bleeding after just one punch. When Mr. Lucero began swinging his belt, Mr. Hausch said the group backed away.

“You guys had already decided to retreat?” Mr. Keahon asked.

“Yes,” Mr. Hausch replied.

Mr. Hausch said that other than Mr. Shea’s punch, he did not see anyone else hit Mr. Lucero.

In her opening statement this month, Ms. O’Donnell had told the jury that Mr. Conroy had boasted to friends immediately after the stabbing, “Imagine if I get away with this.” On Monday, Mr. Hausch testified that someone in the group made that comment, but he did not know who did, and later told Mr. Keahon that the person who said it was not Mr. Conroy.

A version of this article appears in print on March 30, 2010, on page A20 of the New York edition with the headline: In Hate-Crime Trial, Man Tells of Hunt for Hispanics. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe